Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

... with our third anniversary of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and a Happy New Year. Welcome at our third anniversary month October 2015. Time to look back, but not to long. We are not living in the past or in the future, we are living NOW.

Back in October 2012 I started Carpe Diem Haiku Kai (than it was only called "Carpe Diem") to share my love for haiku and other Japanese poetry forms with the world. Back than the only thing I thought was "let me give it a try and start with a daily haiku meme". I never had thought that CDHK would be alive and kicking three years later, but ... we are here growing from toddler to teenager and with a lot more special features.

Our first Logo September/October 2012

Back in 2012 I only had the regular prompts and the CD-Specials in which I introduced and shared haiku composed by a featured haiku poet/ess (classical and non-classical). In the first month that was (of course) Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), my haiku master.
During the time I created new features, some of them still in use and others vanished or landed in the closet. Last year (2014), following the warm-hearted family feeling of our Haiku Kai, I mentioned for the very first time our Kai "Carpe Diem Haiku Family" and in the mean time that "family"- idea landed in your hearts and in the hearts of my visitors and travclers by. I created several new parts for our "Carpe Diem Haiku Family" e.g weblogs on Wordpress. And I created places for our Carpe Diem Haiku Family at Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr and more recently I created a place at Pinterest and a new weblog at Sim-diff. This last weblog on Sim-diff is especially for Troiku.
This year we started with our CDHK kukai from which we have had four (the judging for our 4th kukai "peace of mind" is running at the moment) and we had our first Renga Party. We have really grown ... we have our e-books and (I hope) to launch our own CDHK-M, our merchandise webshop, soon.

Our logo September 2014

Than we had of course that event that Jane Reichhold, a very famous haiku-poetess, became a kind of co-host for CDHK and gave me the exclusive rights to publish her e-books at our Haiku Kai. I am grateful that she gave me that opportunity. During the excistence of CDHK I had the honor to bring haiku by several well known, famous, haiku poets/esses from all around the globe e.g. Kala Ramesh, Jim Kacian and Garry Gay and this month, in which we celebrate our third anniversary, I have the honor that two well known and famous haiku poets have granted me permission to use their poetry and an essay, Michael Dylan Welch and Tom D'Evelyn. Both have gained their place in the world wide haiku community and I am grateful that they will be here (in words) at CDHK.

Earlier in this post I said that we are living now in the present ... I have looked back and now I love to give you a Sneak Preview of the future of our Haiku Kai.
This month I hope to open our CDHK-M webshop (Carpe Diem Haiku Kai-Merchandise) and I hope to open our own You Tube Channel. I am struggling with that channel, so this will take a little bit more time I guess.

Troika (the base on which the Troiku is created)

I will create another weblog especially for Troiku, because the Sim-Diff weblog is just a kind of showcase, to give you the opportunity to respond on themes given with a Troiku. I also will create an all new feature Troiku World here at our Haiku Kai and also an all new feature about the Fibo-ku, both creative ways to write haiku which I invented.
Next month November we will go back to Central Asia, to Mongolia, the Altai Mountains were we will have a journey while riding on a horse. That month we will "read" another wonderful novel written by Paulo Coelho, The Zahir. The Zahir is one of his most beautiful novels and the story takes place in and around The Altai Mountains.
In December we will have all classical kigo for Winter based on the Japanese Saijiki's.

I hope to create two new e-books, one for our prize-winning poetess Ese, for the kukai "juxtaposition", and a special E-book about Troiku.
As you maybe know this month it's all about Japanese Festivals ... and Japan has a lot of them.

What can I tell you more ... at the moment nothing more I think, so I will end this episode New Year with the following haiku:

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The judging for our fourth kukai "Peace of Mind" is NOW OPEN. You may give 6 points (3 for the best haiku, 2 for the second best haiku and 1 point for the third best haiku). As from now on (as we have discussed earlier) the judging is also open for those who didn't participate in this kukai.

To celebrate that CDHK has a new part on Troiku I love to challenge you all to write (again) a troiku. This time however with a small twist ... you have to use the haiku which I will give you in this episode.
By the way I am busy with creating a new feature here at CDHK in which we will, on a bi-weekly base, have two different creative ways of writing haiku. That feature is about Troiku and Fibo-ku, two creative ways to write haiku which I invented.

Ok ... back to this Tokubetsudesu episode. I have a wonderful haiku by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), one of the "big-five" haiku poets (Basho, Issa, Chiyo-Ni, Buson and Shiki), to start your Troiku with. In short you have to write three new haiku using the three separated lines of the given haiku as the first line. To read more about Troiku, please see the menu above.

This is what Jane tells us about this haiku by Basho written in spring 1684: This verse is ambiguous enough that the reader does not know if the butterflies and birds look like a cloud of flowers or if they fly up into a cloud of blossoms.

This is the "blue-print" of the troiku:

(sleigh):

butterflies and birdsrestlessly they rise upa cloud of flowers

(horse 1):

+ starts with: butterflies and birds

(horse 2):

+ starts with: restlessly they rise up

(horse 3):

+ starts with: a cloud of flowers

I will of course create a troiku from this haiku by Basho myself and I have already the "third horse":

Isn't it awesome to create a troiku? I even created a weblog especially for this new form (you can find the link at the left of our home-page) and I will create a new CDHK special feature for this creative way of writing haiku.

Well ... good luck .... have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 2nd at noon (CET). Have fun!

Another CD Special is on. This month we had no featured haiku poet, but a featured season, autumn, and today we have our last CD Special episode of this month.

To conclude this wonderful month in which we were on a space odyssey and had all beautiful CD Specials about autumn. I love to challnege you to write a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on the following image (as you maybe can remember from our rich history we had a special feature Carpe Diem Imagination):

This episode of our CD Special feature is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 2nd at noon (CET). I will try to pubklish our new episode, New Year, later on. It's the first episode of our festive month in which we celebrate our third anniversary through visiting Japanese Festivals and Celebrations.

Monday, September 28, 2015

I am a little bit late with this episode ... my excuses for that tiny delay.

Last night (September 27th/September 28th) we had an event that occurs not that often ... a total super blood moon eclipse, sadly I missed it. I was awake around the time of the eclipse, because I was anxious to witness this event ... sadly it was a very cloudy night here in The Netherlands at that time so I missed it. Now I have to wait until 2033 to see this event again ... maybe I am Lucky than. Must be awesome to see a super blood moon eclipse.

We are on a journey among the stars and today we have our final encounter with one of the 88 known constellations, Vulpecula (Fox), its also a not so well known constellation. Let us take a closer look at this constellation:

About this not so well known constellation I couldn't really find a lot of information, but there was a small amount of information which I love to share here with you.

Vulpecula is
a faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "little
fox", although it is commonly known simply as the fox. It was identified
in the seventeenth century, and is located in the middle of the Summer Triangle
(an asterism consisting of the bright stars Deneb, Vega and Altair).

In the late
17th century, the astronomer Johannes Hevelius created Vulpecula. It was
originally known as Vulpecula cum ansere ("the little fox with the
goose") or Vulpecula et Anser ("the little fox and the goose"),
and was illustrated with a goose in the jaws of a fox. Hevelius did not regard
the fox and the goose to be two separate constellations, but later the stars
were divided into a separate Anser and Vulpecula. Today, they have been merged
again under the name of the fox, but the goose is remembered by the name of the
star Vulpeculae: Anser.

And with this constellation Vulpecula (Fox) we are back on Earth and proud that we have visited all those constellations and have been writing haiku about them. It was really fun to make this space odyssey for you all and I hope you all did enjoy "the ride".

Tomorrow we will have our last episode(s) of this month, a CD Special and a Tokubetsudesu episode, and than we will start with our third anniversary month ...

Recently I started a new weblog "Carpe Diem Troiku World" it's, as you cvan understand from it's title all about Troiku .... feel free to visit. It's under construction, but there are already a few posts to read.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 1st at noon (CET). I will try to post our next (and last) episodes of this month, Carpe Diem Special and Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu, later on. For now ... thank you for flying with Carpe Diem Haiku Kai to the stars and I hope it will inspire you.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

As I started to create this episode I let my thoughts go a bit. I asked myself ... what does the sculptor mean to me? I first thought it's another name for our Creator, but at second thought I thought we are all our own sculptors. We all have shaped our life and our environment following our ideas and dreams. And after those thoughts I hoped to find that same idea in our constellation (a not so well known one) Sculptor.

I really hadn't heard about this constellation and several of the other constellations we have encountered already. So I am anxious to find/read more about this constellation. By the way ... did you know that our former queen, princess Beatrix is a sculptor herself? She is a really great artist and a lot of people don't know that I think.

That was just a little side step ... so back to our constellation of today Sculptor. Let us take a closer look at this "unknown" constellation. And there is not a lot to find about this constellation, so this will be a short episode.

Sculptor is a faint
constellation south of Cetus and Aquarius, invented by the French astronomer
Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his mapping of the southern skies in 1751–52.
His original name for it, given on his planisphere of 1756, was l’Atelier du
Sculpteur, the sculptor’s studio. It consisted of a carved head on a tripod
table, with the artist’s mallet and two chisels on a block of marble next to
it. On Lacaille’s 1763 planisphere the title was Latinized to Apparatus
Sculptoris. In 1844 the English astronomer John Herschel proposed shortening it
to Sculptor.

Not a strong haiku I think, but in a way ... the deeper layer is the most important in this haiku. Isn't that what our goal is? To make a better world through poetry? If we can succeed in that ... I would be proud ....

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 30th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Vulpecula (Fox), later on.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

What a joy ... another month of CDHK is running to it's end and we have just a few days before we are starting with our third anniversary month. Incredible that CDHK is still here alive and kicking. I am proud to be your host and that makes me humble too, because who am I that I may make CDHK for a worldwide family of haiku poets. Thank you all for being part in this haiku loving family.

Today we are going further on our space odyssey to encounter another (not so well known) constellation Phoenix. The Phoenix rises from its ashes and I hope that CDHK will never come to the point that it will die and has to be reborn like a phoenix.

Let us first take a look at the mythology of this mythical creature. In Greek
mythology, a phoenix or phenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically
regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by
arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoenix
dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that
claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born
again. According to some texts, the phoenix could live over 1,400 years before
rebirth. Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid,
and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling
and transmission of the phoenix motif. The phoenix was adopted as a symbol in
early Christianity.

As you maybe know I am a fan of Harry Potter and in that movie series appears several times a phoenix to rescue Harry e.g. in "The Secret Chamber" and "The Order of the Phoenix". So a lot of us have grown up with this mythical creature.

Maybe that's the deeper meaning of this creature. Resurrection and renewal every day again. Maybe you have conquered illness and came out of it like a Phoenix. I think that in everyone of us, in every human there is something like a Phoenix. As I look at myself than I sure think that's true. I have conquered several periods of illness and came out stronger as ever. So ... we all are Phoenixes ...

Ok ... back to our constellation, because that's where its all about this month. Let us take a closer look to this, not so well known, constellation.

Phoenix was
the largest of the twelve constellations established by Petrus Plancius from
the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. It first
appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 (or 1598) in
Amsterdam by Plancius with Jodocus Hondius. The first depiction of this
constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer's Uranometria of 1603. De
Houtman included it in his southern star catalog the same year under the Dutch
name Den voghel Fenicx, "The Bird Phoenix", symbolising the phoenix
of classical mythology. One name of the brightest star Alpha Phoenicis—Ankaa—is
derived from the Arabic ‘anqā’ "the phoenix", and was coined sometime
after 1800 in relation to the constellation.

Celestial
historian Richard Allen noted that unlike the other constellations introduced
by Plancius and La Caille, Phoenix has actual precedent in ancient astronomy,
as the Arabs saw this formation as representing young ostriches, Al Ri'āl, or
as a griffin or eagle. In addition, the same group of stars was sometimes
imagined by the Arabs as a boat, Al Zaurak, on the nearby river Eridanus. He
observed, "the introduction of a Phoenix into modern astronomy was, in a
measure, by adoption rather than by invention."

The Chinese
incorporated Phoenix's brightest star, Ankaa (Alpha Phoenicis), and stars from
the adjacent constellation Sculptor to depict Bakui, a net for catching birds. Phoenix
and the neighboring constellation of Grus together were seen by Julius Schiller
as portraying Aaron the High Priest. These two constellations, along with
nearby Pavo and Tucana, are called the Southern Birds.

That's something to see spring arriving like a Phoenix ... maybe the Phoenix is very real ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, Sculptor, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

I have
finally found time to publish our first Carpe Diem kasen-renga “In The Twilight”.
It was an experiment, but I think it has become wonderful. It was really a joy
to follow the growth of this renga and I am so glad that it has become a
beauty. Thank you all for participating in this first Carpe Diem Renga Party.

A Renga, as we have created here is called a kasen-renga of 36 links. But ...
there were (of course) strict rules. As we look at ancient kasen-renga than
there were for example links in which you had to use kigo (seasonwords) like
moon and in a kasen-renga there was always the whole year, in fact in every
renga you will find all seasons.

September 2015 is running to it's end and next week we will have our first day of our third anniversary. And that makes me happy. Today it is time for an all new CD Time Machine episode and this time I have chosen for a prompt which closed September in 2013. In September 2013 we had all classical kigo for autumn and the prompt than was "Tsuyujimo (dew frost)".

"Haiku
isn't only a form of poetry, but it's also a way of life". And that is
what haiku is ... haiku is a kind of lifestyle entwined with Zen-Buddhism,
Taoism, Confucianism and other ancient philosophies. All those
religious/spiritual ways of life are all a piece of Basho's work and life.

I remember what I wrote than and I love to share that here again. This is what I wrote and while looking back to the start of Carpe Diem ... it makes me proud that CDHK is still here alive and kicking.

Imagine ... we are here almost three years. I really couldn't have dreamed that as I started our Kai, but we are still here. Did we grow? Are we already grown up? I don't know what you think, but this is what I feel today:

I am proud that we have come this far and I think we are starting to become an adult group of haiku loving poets. In our "life" as a Kai we have seen changes come and go. We are a steady group of poets and we also can say we have published our Kai's haiku in several e-books. We have our own traditions ... think about our kukai, our renga party and all those other beautiful features. I am proud and that makes me humble too. Who am I that I may do this ... being your host and mentor ...!

During the years of our existence we have accomplished a lot, and that's not only my merit, but it's your merit too. I am happy that through our Kai we have promoted haiku all around the globe. We have encountered a lot of wellknown haiku poets e.g. Jane Reichhold, Garry Gay, Jim Kacian, Michael Dylan Welch and Tom D'Evelyn. And they all are cherishing Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and are glad to be part of it.

Dew Frost

"Dew
frost" is a kind of thin layer of frost on branches, grasses and so on.
It's the first signal for the upcoming winter cold, but it also is a wonderful
fragile kind of frost which changes Mother Nature's face in to a mysterious and
magical world. I love to walk through nature as this dew frost occurs and the
early sunlight starts to shine. The trees look somewhat like crystal or
diamonds, so fragile in it's beauty. Really awesome ...

What a
wonderful sight ... look at those dew drops frozen, like pearls ... nature can
be that beautiful, that fragile, that transient ... just like life itself.

early
morning walk
through the park that looks so fragile -
sunrise and dew frost

cobweb
sparkles
prince winter has made his round
through the city-park

I am looking forward to our third anniversary and I hope to read wonderful haiku ... tanka ... or other Japanese poetry forms ... and (I hope) according to my idea ... to open our CDHK-Merchandise webshop.

This episode is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until September 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, phoenix, later on today. For now ... have fun!

Friday, September 25, 2015

On our space odyssey we have encountered several known an unknown constellations and today we have another "unknown" constellation, Pyxis (Mariner's compass). I haven't heard from this constellation and I think most of you also will not know this constellation. So it will not be easy to write an all new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on this constellation. Maybe the description can help us. Let us take a closer look at this "unknown" constellation.

The
constellation Pyxis was created by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de
Lacaille in 1751-52 during his exploration of the southern skies. He named the
constellation la Boussole and later Latinized the name to Pixis Nautica. The
constellation appeared under this name in the second edition of Lacaille’s
chart in 1763. The name was eventually shortened to Pyxis.

The
constellation represents the magnetic compass used by navigators and seamen and
should not be confused with Circinus, which was named after a draftsman’s
compasses. Pyxis lies in the vicinity of the three constellations that were
once known as Argo Navis, a single large constellation that represented the
ship of the Argonauts. Lacaille was the one who divided the constellation into
three smaller ones – Carina, Puppis and Vela – and this might be the reason why
Pyxis is sometimes mentioned as the fourth constellation that was part of Argo
Navis, even though it wasn’t. The Greek astronomer Ptolemy had catalogued the
stars from Alpha to Delta Pyxidis, but not as part of Argo Navis, but as stars
located on or around the ship’s mast.

It's time again for an all new episode of our special feature "Encore" in which I present haiku written by Basho to inspire you to write an all new haiku (or tanka). This week I have chosen a beautiful haiku which Basho wrote while he was on his journey into the deep north.

When
travelers stayed in a temple, they were expected to perform some work like
sweeping out their rooms and or sweeping up the garden or make a payment in
some kind. Basho was now alone, because Sora had traveled on ahead of him. When
Basho went to leave the temple, some monks stopped him by asking for the
payment of at least a poem. Sora had stayed the night before in the same temple
and had left the following verse for Basho.

One wonders
if 'the mountain behind' was Basho, and if he 'autumn winds' were Basho's cold
feelings. It is easy to see, how on a journey of this length (2400 km) two
friends could get very tired of each other.

The
following haiku by Basho, he wrote as a payment for his stay at the temple.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Our space odyssey was on hold a few days, but today we will go on with this exploration of our universe. Today we will encounter the constellation Pegasus. I didn't know this constellation, but Pegasus I do know. This winged horse is a gorgeous myth from the Greeks.

The
Babylonian constellation IKU (field) had four stars of which three were later
part of the Greek constellation Hippos (Pegasus). Pegasus, in Greek mythology,
was a winged horse with magical powers. One myth regarding his powers says that
his hooves dug out a spring, Hippocrene, which blessed those who drank its
water with the ability to write poetry. Pegasus was the one who delivered
Medusa's head to Polydectes, after which he travelled to Mount Olympus in order
to be the bearer of thunder and lightning for Zeus. Eventually, he became the
horse to Bellerophon, who was asked to kill the Chimera and succeeded with the
help of Athena and Pegasus. Despite this success, after the death of his
children, Bellerophon asked Pegasus to take him to Mount Olympus. Though
Pegasus agreed, he plummeted back to Earth after Zeus either threw a
thunderbolt at him or made Pegasus buck him off.
In ancient Persia, Pegasus was depicted by al-Sufi as a complete horse facing
east, unlike most other uranographers, who had depicted Pegasus as half of a
horse, rising out of the ocean. In al-Sufi's depiction, Pegasus's head is made
up of the stars of Lacerta the lizard.
By the way al-Sufi was one of the famous nine Muslim astronomers. His name
implies that he was from a Sufi Muslim background. He lived at the court of
Emir Adud ad-Daula in Ispahan, Persia, and worked on translating and expanding
Greek astronomical works, especially the Almagest of Ptolemy. He contributed
several corrections to Ptolemy's star list and did his own brightness and
magnitude estimates which frequently deviated from those in Ptolemy's work. He
was a major translator into Arabic of the Hellenistic astronomy that had been
centered in Alexandria, the first to attempt to relate the Greek with the
traditional Arabic star names and constellations, which were completely
unrelated and overlapped in complicated ways.

A wonderful story and a wonderful constellation I think. I couldn't write a haiku at first, but after reading and re-reading I thought maybe I can do something with Hippocrene the spring dug out through Pegasus's hooves, which blessed those who drank from it with the powerful skill to write poetry. So here is my attempt inspired on Hippocrene:

after the
rainstorm
horses galloping through puddles
droplets of poetry

Hippocrene was the name of a
spring on Mt. Helicon. It was sacred to the Muses and was formed by the hooves
of Pegasus. Its name literally translates as "Horse's Fountain" and
the water was supposed to bring forth poetic inspiration when imbibed.There are several poems in which "Hippocrene" is mentioned. An example:John Keats (1795-1821), an English poet, mentions "Hippocrene" in his wellknown poem "Ode to a Nightingale", what is following is part of that poem. If you would like to read Keats' whole poem than follow the link above.

O for a
beaker full of the warm South
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim

I hope you did like this episode about Pegasus and of course I hope that it will inspire you to write an all new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Pyxis (Mariner's Compass), later on. For now ... be inspired and share your inspired haiku with us all.

What a joy to see new names appearing at CDHK, and to see the return of haiku poets who were part of CDHK in earlier days of our Kai. That makes me really happy and ... maybe ... proud, because I just try to promote our beloved haiku ...

It's a little while ago (August 27th) that I published an episode of this beautiful special feature in which I ask you to share your favorite haiku written by a classical or non-classical haiku poet and this time I love to ask you which haiku is your favorite written by Yosa Buson (1716-1784), one of the "big-five" haiku poets.

I have read a lot of haiku written by Buson and I have a few favorites, but there is just one which I love to share here. And (of course) I will try to write an all new haiku (as is the goal of this special feature) inspired on that favorite haiku.

(Daki kago = is a body pillow woven from thin strips of bamboo. It was used to
sleep away the heat of summer night in the Edo period (1603-1868). To use it
means figuratively sleeping together, that is to say, love affairs with a
woman. There was an unlicensed district at Fushimi in the Edo period and there
lived a lot of harlots. Hitoyo fushimi intimates that a man sleeps with a
harlot one night. The place name Fushimi has a pun: fusu means going to bed.)

An extraordinary haiku I think in which Buson uses an extraordinary attribute, a "daki kago" or "bamboo wife" (or "Dutch wife"). In the
summer heat, the open bamboo structure is cooler to the touch than fabric
pillows or sheets. The daki kago is embraced by the user, as one would have a
sleeping companion—this position exposes the maximum amount of the body to
cooling breezes.

It will not be easy to write an all new haiku inspired on this beauty by Buson.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

First this: In one of the posts of this week I mentioned that I am busy with a merchandise-project. This project starts to become real. Just several hours ago I have created our "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Merchandise (CDHK-M)" webshop. Thanks to Hamish, who pointed me at Ticail, a Swedish website that gives people the opportunity to create their webshop. At this moment the CDHK-M webshop is under construction, but later this week I hope to open it ... I will start with the (free) e-books of CDHK. I will keep you posted on this CDHK-M project.

Ok ... it's time again for a CD-Special and this time I love to focus on thé kigo (seasonword) of autumn, Moon. As you all know I am a real "moon-lover". The moon is one of my favorite themes for haiku and I have written a lot of "moon"- haiku. Why "moon" for this CD-Special?

To the Japanese the moon is at her brighest and beautifuls in autumn. Every haiku poet will agree on that. "Moon" is not a kigo in other seasons. As haiku poets write haiku on "moon" in other seasons they will always mention the season too e.g. "moon of summer", "moon of spring".

Maybe you can remember that I published earlier this year an anthology with "moon"- haiku, you can find that anthology in our Library (in the menu).

To inspire you I have a few "moon"- haiku by Basho which I love to share here. All haiku are translated by Jane Reichhold.

Maybe you know that I am also co-hosting at MindLoveMisery's Menagerie (MLMM). At MLMM I am hosting the Wednesday feature "Heeding Haiku With ..." and this week's "Heeding Haiku With .." is also about autumn.

Here are a few haiku to inspire you written by (former) CDHK family-members:

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

What a joy to present you an all new episode of our special feature Tokubetsudesu. This time I love to challenge you to write a troiku.

Troiku is a haiku form which I have invented and I will give a brief description of this way of writing haiku. Troiku is a compound word which I distilled from the Russian sleigh "troika" and the Japanese poetry form "haiku".
The goal is to write a haiku (the sleigh) and to write three new haiku (the horses) by using the three lines of the haiku (the sleigh). I will give an example:

In the above troiku "Old Pond" is the famous "frog pond" haiku by Basho "the sleigh". The "horses" in the right of the image are based on the separate lines of that haiku by Basho. "Horse 1" starts with the first line; "horse 2" starts with the second line and "horse 3" starts with the third line.
The complete four stanza are called troiku. More about this Troiku you can read in the article mentioned in the above menu or by clicking HERE.

Well .... I hope you did like this Tokubetsudesu episode and I hope you will try to create/compose a Troiku. I am looking forward to your responses and I hope those responses are many ...

This CD Tokubetsudesu episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 25th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, a new CD Special themed Autumn, later on. For now ... have fun!

It's Tuesday again and that means ... time for an all new episode of our special feature "Modern Times Haiku". I have a wonderful haiku for you written by Richard Wright (1908-1960). Not that long ago he was the featured haiku poet here at CDHK (November 2014), but he has written a lot of beauties (all in the last 2 years of his life).

Richard Wright
(1908-1960) was introduced to haiku in the summer of 1959 when he borrowed R.
H. Blyth's four volumes of Haiku from a young South African and began his
intensive research of the Japanese masters.

By March of
1960, Wright went into high gear composing haiku. During the final months of
his life, he practically lived and breathed haiku, always carrying his haiku
binder with him under his arm everywhere he went. He wrote haiku in Parisian
cáfes and restaurants; in Le Moulin d' Anduve, a writing community in the
French countryside; but many, like Shiki, were written while he was bedridden
during his period of convalescence.

In Paris,
he transferred his poems written on paper napkins to sheets of paper and then
hung them up on long metal rods and strung them across his dingy studio to
examine, similar to Paul Reps' idea of hanging his haiku up on lines stretched
between bamboo poles.

This is one of my favorite haiku written by Richard Wright and I have turned it into a haiga ...

Monday, September 21, 2015

1. I have published our prompt-list for October 2015, our 3rd anniversary month;
2. Please remember that our fourth kukai "Peace of Mind" is still running and that you can submit your all new haiku (only haiku) with a maximum of three until September 25th at 10.00 PM (CET);
3. I have changed the judging-rules for our kukai. The kukai-judging is also open for those who didn't submit haiku for the kukai;
4. I am busy with creating our CDHK You Tube channel and I am exploring the possibilities to launch a CDHK merchandise line.

Ok ... enough announcements made. Let us go on with our space odyssey in which we are exploring the 88 known (and listed) constellations. We have had several unknown constellations, but the constellation for today is very known I think. Today we are encountering Orion, mostly known for its very clear three stars which are seen as the belt of Orion. Let us take a closer look at Orion:

There are numerous stories about this constellation. The most dazzling one I think is that one of the stars in Orion's belt is inhabited ... if that's true I don't know, but I was stunned when I read that idea. However that story I will not take with me in this episode, because there are several other stories based on mythology which I cherish more.

The earliest
depiction that has been linked to the constellation of Orion is a prehistoric
(Aurignacian) mammoth ivory carving found in a cave in the Ach valley in
Germany in 1979. Archaeologists have estimated it to have been fashioned
approximately 32,000 to 38,000 years ago. The distinctive pattern of Orion has
been recognized in numerous cultures around the world, and many myths have been
associated with it. It has also been used as a symbol in the modern world.

Ancient Near East

The
Babylonian star catalogues of the Late Bronze Age name Orion "The Heavenly
Shepherd" or "True Shepherd of Anu" - Anu being the chief god of
the heavenly realms. The Babylonian constellation was sacred to Papshukal and
Ninshubur, both minor gods fulfilling the role of 'messenger to the gods'.
Papshukal was closely associated with the figure of a walking bird on
Babylonian boundary stones, and on the star map the figure of the Rooster was
located below and behind the figure of the True Shepherd—both constellations
represent the herald of the gods, in his bird and human forms respectively.

In ancient
Egypt, the stars of Orion were regarded as a god, called Sah. Because Orion
rises before Sirius, the star whose heliacal rising was the basis for the Solar
Egyptian calendar, Sah was closely linked with Sopdet, the goddess who
personified Sirius. The god Sopdu was said to be the son of Sah and Sopdet. Sah
was syncretized with Osiris, while Sopdet was syncretized with Osiris'
mythological wife, Isis. In the Pyramid Texts, from the 24th and 23rd centuries
BC, Sah was one of many gods whose form the dead pharaoh was said to take in
the afterlife.

In ancient
Aram, the constellation was known as Nephîlā′, the Nephilim may have been Orion's
descendants.

Orion's
current name derives from Greek mythology, in which Orion was a gigantic,
supernaturally strong hunter of ancient times, born to Euryale, a Gorgon, and
Poseidon (Neptune), god of the sea in the Graeco-Roman tradition. One myth
recounts Gaia's rage at Orion, who dared to say that he would kill every animal
on the planet. The angry goddess tried to dispatch Orion with a scorpion. This
is given as the reason that the constellations of Scorpius and Orion are never
in the sky at the same time. However, Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, revived
Orion with an antidote. This is said to be the reason that the constellation of
Ophiuchus stands midway between the Scorpion and the Hunter in the sky.

East Asian antiquity

The Rig
Veda refers to the Orion Constellation as Mriga (The Deer). It is said that two
bright stars in the front and two bright stars in the rear are The hunting
dogs, the one comparatively less bright star in the middle and ahead of two
front dogs is The hunter and three aligned bright stars are in the middle of
all four hunting dogs is The Deer (The Mriga) and three little aligned but less
brighter stars is The Baby Deer. The Mriga means Deer, locally known as Harnu
in folk parlance. There are many folk songs narrating the Harnu. The Malay
called Orion' Belt Bintang Tiga Beradik (the "Three Brother Star").

Americas

The Seri
people of northwestern Mexico call the three stars in the belt of Orion Hapj (a
name denoting a hunter) which consists of three stars: Hap (mule deer), Haamoja
(pronghorn), and Mojet (bighorn sheep). Hap is in the middle and has been shot
by the hunter; its blood has dripped onto Tiburón Island.

The Ojibwa
(Chippewa) Native Americans call this constellation Kabibona'kan, the Winter
Maker, as its presence in the night sky heralds winter.

Wow ... what a rich stories about Orion and what a joy to share this with you all here at our Kai. I like all those stories, but I was caught by that little short story about the "Winter Maker" and that inspired me to compose this haiku:

Well ... enough inspiration I think. So good luck .... This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 24th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, an all new Tokubetsudesu, later on.

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Carpe Diem is the place to be if you like to write and share haiku (or another Japanese poetry form like e.g. tanka). It's a family of haiku loving poets.Japanese poetry is known as the impression of a short moment, say a heartbeat or an eye-blink, in which nature plays an important role.It's free to participate in Carpe Diem. By participating in Carpe Diem, you agree with the use of your work in the exclusive e-book series of Carpe Diem.Of course your work will be credited as Carpe Diem always does. However all the texts and works at Carpe Diem are copyrighted and the rights belong to the authors.

March 20th 2016

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